Urakasumi

Matsushima is known as one of the three most beautiful places in Japan. With its gorgeous coast line, scattered with small islands full of pine trees, it’s an absolutely gorgeous place to visit. So, while visiting the city of Sendai, which is located about 30 minutes from Matsushima, it wasn’t a difficult decision to also visit Matsushima.

Scouring online for places to eat and drink, as I do always when I am travelling, I found a small brewery located in the city of Shiogama. I did not find any sake breweries in Matsushima itself, and since Shiogama is one the way to Matsushima, I decided to have a look. As of this writing (November 2023), the have not yet resumed brewery tours, but they do have a tasting corner at their shop.

Urakasumi was founded in 1724, and has been producing sake in the heart of Shiogama. They provide sake to the local shrine, which is also very close by and worth a visit.

The shop has every type of sake that they make, and even a couple of limited seasonal sake as well. I was amazed by the sake with the Rakuten Eagles logo on it. As a giant baseball fan, it didn’t occur to me that baseball brand sake would also exist. Of course that bottle went home with me.

The brewery is located about 5 minutes by foot from Shiogama station. Their shop is small, but it was a very cosy interior. A sake vending machine of located in the corner of the shop, attached to it a bar to try their sake. At the cash register you can get coins for the vending machine. 2 coins will cost you 300 yen, 3 coins 400 yen. And you can keep the o-choko that you get. So overall, a very reasonable price.

4 sake and an Umeshu were available to try when I visited:

• Tokubetsu Junmai Hiyaoroshi 16%, 60% polishing rate
• Un-Label
• Junmai Gino No. 12 15%, 55% polishing rate
• Yamada-Nishiki Junmai Daiginjo 16%, 40% polishing rate

To me, the flavors and the aromas of the Tokubetsu Junmai and the Un-Label were very similar. Dry, lot’s of Junmai flavors like grain and rice, but the Un-label was a bit more flavorful compared to the Hiyaoroshi. Both were still quite mellow and elegant though. Both were very high in umami. The No. 12 and the Yamada-Nishiki Junmai Daiginjo were more fruity sake. The No. 12 had aromas and flavors of more citrus fruits, like lemon and orange, the Yamada-Nishiki sake had more peach and melon. Both a bit dry, high umami and absolutely delicious.

I hope that this brewery will resume tours soon. The town of Shiogama is on the way to Matsushima, so for a small break in between it can be a fun place to stop by. Since both the brewery and the shrine are in walking distance of the train station, it’s quite te convenient visit.

Urakasumi
〒985-0052
2-19 Motomachi, Shiogama, Miyagi
5 minute walk from Shiogama Station